Finding family
by Cheshire Kat02
Summary: Never did Natsume think that meeting with a lady would later lead to a parade of demons coming for him, nor did he think that he would later have the leader of that parade sticking to him. Natsume thinks that he would regret his decision inquiring what the ayakashi knew of him, but will he? [sucks and may not make sense but pls giv it a shot]
1. Chapter 1

Hello, from here on out it'll be the revised version, although i may replace all three chapters at once so that people won't get confused [if i have the time to finish it by the week] , well just a heads up though.

Also just for less confusion

Day Rikuo: Rikuo

Night Rikuo: Yoru

Natsume was on the way home to the Fujiwara Residence after school, arguing with Nyanko-sensei again since he would not stop begging Natsume to detour and to get some dango when an apple rolled towards them. Confused, Natsume picked up the apple in confusion as to where it came from since there were no apple trees in their neighbourhood, while Nyanko-sensei on the other hand was asking Natsume to pass it over for him to eat.

"Sensei, you can't eat this, it definitely came from someone's groceries! Not to mention that it's dirty, you'll get sick!"

Natsume scolded the beckoning cat which tried to reach for the apple regardless of the scolding he received. Although, he did stop when a feminine voice was heard calling out to them as he went back to acting like a regular cat hanging off Natsume's shoulder.

Natsume looked up to the voice to see that a young woman with auburn hair, the top half which was pinned up had called out to them, as she approached her hands full with groceries that looked close to overflowing. Jogging to catch up to her to save her the trouble.

"So sorry about that, thank you for picking it up for me!"

The lady said as he placed the apple back into her bag, Natsume had then offered to help her with her groceries. However, she declined stating that she was from the next town so she would not want to bother him since the sun was starting to set and she did not want him to worry his family. Turning on her heels, she bid Natsume farewell as she went back the direction she came by leaving Natsume and Nyanko-sensei watching her leave before turning and heading back to the Fujiwara residence.

\- 030p -

As Wakana was walking back to the Nura residence, she thought about the brunette that she had met, he had looked really familiar but she could not place where she had seen him before realising, that he looked akin to her mother Natsume Reiko, her mother who had passed away young not long after her sister had reached elementary, her mother who she had inherited the sight from. When she was younger, many who lived in their town pitied her and her sister since they thought of Reiko as a lunatic, as she carried a bat covered in talismans around swinging them in thin air.

However, Wakana and her sister who had the sight knew otherwise, they were able to see what their mother was able to see, see what their mother actually fought against and experience the world of youkai as many youkai would come to their home to find Reiko either because they were bored, or they had wanted to play again. On other days, their mother would come back with groceries in hand while boasting about having added a new name to the book of friends showing to them the new name and telling them what she had done to acquire the name. Many at times, Reiko would come back without any injuries or with some scratches here and there but regardless, she would act as if nothing was wrong as she waved off her children's worries.

Wakana paused thinking of her sister and the book of friends, since it was in her position when they were separated into different foster homes when their mother passed, initially Wakana did not want to let her sister take the book of friends since she was worried for what would happen to her if the youkai's were to turn hostile. Since, why would the youkai want their names to be kept from them even though the master of the book was dead and many had not seen their master after their names had been taken, leaving them unaware of Reiko's death and thought to be forgotten by her. However, her sister simply reassured her and took the book to her new foster home, reassuring that the youkai would not harm her since she was Reiko's daughter furthermore, many of the youkai treasured Reiko despite fearing her, so she believed that the youkai's whose names were in the book of friends would not harm her if they came to reclaim their name.

Wakana was cut from her musings when she heard her son call out to her, coming to greet her at the Nura household gate, helping to lift the weight of some of the groceries in her arms, he questioned if she was alright since she looked quite dazed. She replied she was fine as they walked further into the nura household as the youkai that passed by them greeted them.

As Rikuo walked in front of her, she wondered what happened to her sister, the last she had heard of her was of the news that she had given birth to a healthy baby boy, although, Wakana did not have the time to reply to her since she was dealing with the haunting at her foster families home, resulting to the meeting of Rihan, then the birth of Rikuo to the death of her loved one. Wakana's expression turned solemn remembering her husband's death and after that with all the incidents that kept happening one after another, she had unfortunately forgot about her sisters news and years had passed without letters being exchanged which Wakana thought to be odd, since her sister would send her one every month even though Wakana may not have been able to respond.

Wakana had paused in what she was doing when she wondered if something could have possibly happened, seeing the pause

"Mother? Are you feeling alright?"

Wakana had looked up towards Rikuo who seemed to be worried, shaking her head she asked if he could help to keep the rest as she had something to do. Rikuo nodded towards her and she took her leave, heading to her room to write a letter to her sister.

A few days later, after Wakana had asked karasu tengu to find and send the letter to her sister, the crow youkai had returned, her letter in hand as he delivered the news that her sister and her spouse had passed away in an unfortunate accident. When Wakana heard the news, she mourned for her sister and spouse, for their life had been taken away from them and their child too soon, she wondered what had happened to them for them to depart early much like their mother. But, how could she have not known of her sisters death? Surely they should have contacted her. However, while she mourned there was still something more important that she had to take care of, her nephew, was he alright? Did he have the sight? Is he in a good home? All the questions ran through her mind as she asked karasu about the son

Thankfully, the boy, Natsume Takashi, she learned was doing well, he was currently living with the Fujiwara family in the small town of Yatsuhara, the town that she had visited a few days ago, her mother's childhood town now that she had realised. The gears in her head turned, could the boy that she had met been….? It could have been possible seeing as he looked almost exactly like his grandmother. What about the book of friends then? Could it be with her nephew? If so, was he alright? If Takashi indeed had the sight then it could be dangerous for him, since many youkai had given their names up and it's been decades since they were last called, Wakana's sister had no problems with youkai for as far as she knew, since they had lived close to the city where less youkai resided so she wasn't as concerned.

However, Takashi currently stays in the heart of the place where majority of the youkai which had given their name resided. Wakana wasn't sure if any of the youkai tried to attack her nephew thinking that it was her mother, this scared her, while he may be healthy and well in the eyes of humans, what youkai injuries could he be hiding, thanking Karasu Tengu as he left the room, Rikuo had opened the shoji not long after Karasu left.

Rikuo was worried about his mother, he had overheard the news from Karasu Tengu before he had taken flight again, since he had asked the Tengu if his mother was fine which was when he had heard learned that he had human relatives and the news of his aunt and uncle's passing. Which led to him sitting in front of his mother's room, as she had called him in, he went in and had sat in front of her worried, as he could tell from her mother's expression that she was still mourning, and since Rikuo had no idea what he could do to comfort his mother he had just sat with her in silent comfort. As Wakana had tried to calm herself down, she brought out her smile again.

"Rikuo, let me tell you about my family and the book of friends."

From then, for the next few hours, Rikuo had sat there listening to what the book of friends was, the purpose of names and the power they hold and about Natsume Reiko and their childhood, by the time that Wakana had finished her story, the sun was beginning to set and Rikuo and the youkai was glad that Wakana had seemed to be back to her cheerful self once again, and from what he had heard of his mother's family he had thought that it was a shame that he could not have met his extended family. Then, looking at the expression on his mother's face, as his day form melted away to reveal his night form.

"Mother, we don't kidnap humans ya know"

Yoru said as he smirked towards his mother while she let out a mischievous chuckle as she denied the claim that her son had made of her.

"Just pay him a visit Rikuo, see how is he doing and make sure he's safe."

nodding towards his mother, he had gotten up from his seat opposite his mother and when he opened the shoji door, his closest aides had fallen through the gap now in front of their master found out for eavesdropping on the conversation. Hasting to get up and to be presentable, they apologized and asked to accompany their master on the trip to Yatsuhara knowing his intentions. Yoru sighed seeing his subordinates sighed as he agreed to them although warning them to be careful since Yatsuhara is located in the countryside, their youki may be overwhelming to the humans there and as such have to be careful to not be seen since it is not the same as Tokyo. The youkai nodded enthusiastically promising to be careful and as a result, the trip to Yatsuhara ended up being bigger than Yoru had originally thought.

-uwu-

In the Fujiwara household, Natsume was woken up with Nyanko-sensei pawing at his face. Waking up to shove him off, he realised that sensei was in his full form. With that Natsume wondered what was wrong, looking on beside him he saw that Tanuma, who had decided to stay over since he had heard about the youkai stalker and was worried, had also been woken up seeming as confused as Natsume was.

"Get out of the house, there are youkai coming."

Sensei said as he pushed the two boys towards the window to leave with the other lower youkai that had come to bring the two humans away when Natsume turned back to Sensei who waited for the two boys to leave first. Natsume confused asked what was going on, seeing as even Misuzu is present.

"Could it be the tengu that was watching us recently Sensei? I thought that he wasn't around anymore?"

Natsume said as he washed pushed out by Madara who in frustration that Natsume wa being so slow pushed him out of the window, being caught in the arms of Hinoe who told him to worry about himself more as they were after him, that the humans would be safe but, Natsume wouldn't if he did not get away now. As they were about to leave the compound with Misuzu and Madara staying behind to hold the youkai off, however, Natsume stopped much to Hinoe's protests when he saw the small procession of youkai that had appeared from the forest. While there was a variety of youkai in the area such as a yuki onna and what seemed to look like monks, the most prominent to Natsume was the silver haired youkai that seemed to be the leader among them.

Madara tensed up at the presence of the multiple youkai and looked towards Misuzu who shook his head first. Misuzu then turned to address the youkai questioning, what business the youkai have in his town to come with and entourage of youkai. Some of the youkai beside the silver haired were vocal in their protest in not respecting their master properly, Madara was about to bite back when the silver haired youkai silenced his entourage stopping them.

"I apologise if we came off as hostile as first, we simply came to find Natsume Takashi, the grandson of Natsume Reiko and the holder of the book of friends."

Yoru told what seemed to be the lord of the town not mentioning the book of friends, since, they were not sure whether Takashi was the current owner of the book of friends but with the youkai around his current residence, he had a good guess that his cousin had the book. Although that was the least of his worries. The lord of the town snorted as he spoke,

"For as long as i had known, the third master of the Nura clan did not give his name up to the Reiko,"

"I am honored that you know about me and indeed i did not, i am not here for the book of friends, but for Natsume Takashi instead."

Yoru spoke to the lord with respect as the wolf youkai then growled towards them questioning what he wanted with the boy, and Yoru without regard to the wolf questioned what it would mean to him since it was not his business.

Madara shot out a purification light towards the youkai who dodged, only hitting the silver head youkai by a little and not dealing much damage towards him at all, at that Madara clicked his tongue, knowing that his usual attacks would not do much in this situation, as he was about to move away to get to Natsume, he realised that he could not move at all, as he tried to see what held him in place his feels something sharp digging into his neck and muzzle. Seeing it to be red strings and from the cold that he feels at his feet, he suspects that the yuki-onna had taken action. Looking on to where the strings lead to, he saw this headless youkai which the strings belonged to and the aforementioned yuki-onna who had mist forming around her. Madara had tried to break out of the strings and ice but he couldn't since, whatever he did seemed to make the strings tighter. The both of them exerting youki as they threatened

"I suggest that if you want to keep your head, you have some respect for our master."

As Madara decided to try and escape again, this time he was successful nearly falling off the roof as he did so since he realised, looking down, that he was free. The ropes on the tiles around him and the ice nowhere to seen. Looking towards the silver haired youkai, he had his weapon out the youkai around him confused at their masters actions

Natsume had caught the eye of the youkai leader as he tended to Tanuma whos headache had gotten worse from the onslaught of youki present, and when he made eye contact with the leader, he was terrified initially, since he had thought he was next seeing as Sensei was already taken down. Then, the leader seemed to be apologetic as he shifted his gaze from Natsume towards Tanuma and back to Natsume again, then watching the leader take out his sword, while he prepared for the worst, being held down by Hinoe who knew what he wanted to try and had to watch as the leader youkai brought his sword down, turning away he expected that Sensei would be hurt, however, all he could hear was the shattering of ice and ropes falling to the ground. Looking up, he saw that Sensei was in front of him, trying to block him from them, but from what he could see the leader wasn't even paying attention to them anymore and instead was looking at his subordinates.

Yoru was glaring at yuki-onna and kubinashi who were remorseful seeing that their master was angry

"What did i say before we came?"

"To be careful with our youki."

Yoru then looked towards the rest of the youkai present as he questioned what they had done then, to which they replied that they had released their youki to intimidate the youkai present. A tick mark formed as the youkai shrunk back seeing that their master was furious with them.

"Then?! Are you waiting for me to tell you what to do or will you do it yourselves?!"

He scolded them as the youki emmating around them disappeared to a certain extent since, youkai are made of youki. So unless, they were in the guise of humans they would be unable to erase their youki fully. Although, it was enough for Tanuma to not be in pain anymore.

Yoru looked towards the lord of the town and bowed, the youkai protested that their master shouldn't bow but was shut down and fell quiet when he glared at them again.

"I apologize if we had come off hostile, but i think that it'll be best that we leave for now."

Yoru apologized to the lord of the town, then turning to where he knew Natsume was as the wolf growled at him. Not paying any mind to the wolf, he managed to make eye contact with the the boy, bowing to him in an apology, mouthing a 'see you later' that he knew Takashi had taken note off and turned to leave, his entourage following behind him. The trip back home was quiet as the youkai knew that their master was fuming, and indeed he was but since the sun was going to come up soon, he decided that his other half would do a better job of scolding them, besides it was a saturday so Rikuo could go at it for as long as he wanted.

Which ended up till the afternoon, where Rikuo was stopped by his mother dropped in wanting to speak to him, the youkia with their sore limbs from being forced to kneel too the chance and bolted.

uwu -

Once the entourage of youkai was gone, the lower level youkai all deflated as the threat was gone and nyanko-sensei changed back into his maneki neko form landing on top of Natsume chasticing both Tanuma and Natsume for not running away. But in truth, he too was a little shaken from the encounter with the lord of the pandemonium.

"Seems like you managed to gain the interest of the third master, in the sense of you as a person rather than the owner of the book of friends Natsume-dono"

Misuzu said as he brought his huge head down, resting in front of them as he spoke.

"Do you know of them Misuzu?"

Nyanko asked from his position as Misuzu hummed in agreement

"What i know of the clan is little, but the family has been around since Edo. With Nurarihyon being the head of the clan, the nurarihyon that we saw tonight was the infamous third master, the grandson of Nurarihyon, a Hango and the one holding the current title of the lord of pandemonium and famous for defeating Abe no Seimei."

Nyanko snorted at the information Misuzu had given, while the two humans in the vicinity were confused at the term, and when Natsume had asked what a Hanyo meant

"Hanyo's are youkai who have human blood in them, in a sense where they were born from the unification of a human and youkai, which was also reasoned with why he smelled so weird."

Natsume had heard what Nyanko said at the end and chuckled. Although, he was surprised that such a combination existed since he always assumed that youkai preferred stay out of sight of humans. Noticing that the sun was going to come up soon, the two boys sneaked back into the house, deciding that they could figure out what happened tonight after they rested properly since, they were up for most of the night due to the youkai, maybe find out more about the infamous third master of the Nura clan.

—

Well i'm going to stop here for now, i'm going to try to space events out a little more so that it isnt so jam packed, so the former three chapters may end up being four or five maybe more, i'll try to add more events so that it isn't like exactly the same. Also i apologize for the one week turning to two for some reason school work got real heavy this week and even though i wrote a little in class i couldn't finish it last week. Ah for now i'll try my best to make a chapter a month a habit to get back into the feel of writing since i know that if i say i'll post when ever i can it's gonna go down to nothing at all lol. So if there are more chapters a month it's a bonus i guess but other than that.

Au revoir, till next time!


	2. Chapter 2

Hihi i'm back uwu. Well workloads better now and at the time i'm writing this i have a 3 day break so hooray gonna spend it wisely so i can squeeze in time to write this (cough cough i'm sorry i procrastinated and now it's the middle of february. Im screwed). Well anyways, im….. Yea i have no excuses lmao well let's head on to some of the reviews i got!

Lukas: thank you!

Just yuki: noted! I hope you like these upcoming revised chapters

Phantom0408: no problem!

Wula-chan: i'm back uwu

Ryukialover27: thank you for the well wishes and thank you for the kind feedback! I'm glad you enjoy the story!

Silvermane1: thank you!

The next day, after the two boys got adequate rest from the previous day's excitement, it was the late afternoon by the time they had gone over to Tanuma's house where they met up with Taki. As both Tanuma and Natsume filled her in with what happened the previous night, she was jealous that she could not be with them since, she wanted to see youkai as well. Although, hearing about the hanyo and the fact that Tanuma could see the youkai's clearly was definitely surprising as she thought of some hypotheticals with the boys.

"Do you think that if i had met them or we had gone to Tokyo or anywhere outside of Yatsuhara, we would be able to see youkai without the help of my grandfather's circle? Since, even Tanuma was able to see them?"

Taki had proposed as she considered the informations that they had of the Tokyo youkai until Sensei snorted at them and the three teens turned to the beckoning cat.

"You are only partially right, those youkai outside are much stronger than the usual youkai you see in the countryside, they can control their 'youki' and choose whether they want to be seen by regular humans, so as a result, the term 'sight' does not hold as much significance in youkai civilisations."

Sensei explained to the teens who took in the information, and wondered what else could have been made possible. Although, Natsume wondered why the leader of a youkai group would be interested in him, especially since he didn't have difficulty nor the need to find new subordinates. When the sun was starting to set, both Natsume and Taki had set off from Tanuma's place as they headed back to their own, Natsume returning some names on the way home.

In the Nura household

Wakana and Rikuo had spent most of their Saturday together, after the youkai had escaped from Rikuo, with Wakana telling her son more stories about the book of friends and her childhood. With stories that Natsume Reiko had shared with them as children. After awhile, many of the youki had gathered around the room and some around the mother and son as more stories were shared. Some of the smaller youkai blanching at the thought of such a human as rash as Reiko was, Wakana chuckled at that saying that she too was worried for her mother at times. However, Reiko would always come back with just a few scratches and grinning with a new name added to the book.

When some of the youkai asked why Reiko would not mingle with the humans around her, Wakana had a solemn look on her face which made the youkai regret asking the question.

"Like many others with the 'sight' she was ostracised, being called a lunatic behind her back and disrespected for not having any family. Our family line has always been quite blur, we never knew our grandparents, nor our father. We only knew our mother, who was always there."

Wakana explained as Reiko took her hands caressing it in comfort as many of the smaller youkai hung onto Wakana giving comfort in their own ways. After that, Wakana brought back her smile, pushing off everyone's worries that it was fine since it happened a long time ago, that it does no good to remember the worst, that they should remember the best and continued to tell stories of the Reiko, about the youkai both she and her sister encountered as a result, and the experiences. Somehow ending up talking about Rihan, and their first encounter and the things they experienced together for the youkai who were either too young or had not existed during the time, or those that came after Rikuo.

Sunday.

For Natsume, the day had generally went by fine with no more youkai (which he suspected belonged to the silver haired leader) following him and after settling some of the troubles with the dog gang, he headed to see Misuzu. Who as usual stated that he could have just been called instead of Natsume making the special trip to see him.

Misuzu had asked what required the visit and Natsume explained that he wanted to know more about the Kyoto youkai. Since, it could give him some clues as to why the youkai leader wanted to find him. Sitting on the grass, Natsume listened as Misuzu told him of the stories that he had heard outside of the young leader, whose name was Nura Rikuo. The fights that leader had been in with the Shikoku and Kyoto, the hundred tales clan and Abe no Seimei. Natsume listened in awe at the feet that the young master had accomplished. once all the stories had finished, Natsume realized that the sun was beginning to set. Looking over to sensei, he sighed at the sight of sensei drinking with the other youkai drunk and asking for more alcohol.

Deciding to just leave sensei alone and just head home, Misuzu offered to accompany Natsume home to avoid any attacks from the youkai, the boy thought about it. But declined since he wouldn't want to be an inconvenience, Misuzu huffed saying that it wouldn't be a bother since it would be better than babysitting those youkai who were dead drunk. But Natsume was just insistent that it was fine for him to go back by himself especially since it wasn't dark yet. Eventually, Misuzu gave in and bid the human goodbye as he disappeared into the forest.

— w—

As Natsume went through the forest, he met some of the smaller youkai that came to greet him and was stopped by one minor youkai who asked whether he could have his name back. Nodding to the youkia, he took out the book of friends only to have it snatched away from him. Looking towards the offending youkai whose form changed to a more menacing one as it ran away. Chasing after the youkai who held the book of friends, he cursed his naivety and why sensei had to get drunk on today of all days when he was stopped with a hand on his shoulder. Looking towards who had reached out to him he saw nothing, turning back he saw the leader youkai from a few nights prior cutting down the youkai and retrieving the book of friends.

"I believe this belongs to you"

The youkai said as he handed the book back to Natsume who kept it in his bag immediately muttering a thanks to the youkai. As Natsume continued walking back, the silver youkai followed behind quietly and when Natsume quickened his pace, the youkia did so as well. After this happened for a good 10 minutes and Natsume was tired of running he turned around and questioned what the youkai wanted with him.

"Well looking out for you so that you don't get attacked from anymore youkai. Since the sun had set already and you're going deeper into the forest rather than out,"

Yoru stated as he watched Natsume flush and head in the correct direction, walking behind the human boy still, he wondered if he should just pick him up and carry him back to his foster family's home since it would be faster anyways but Rikuo nagged at him that he would scare Natsume if he did that. Soon as Natsume's home came into view stopped and Yoru stopped behind waiting.

"Thanks for accompanying me back, i think i'll be fine from here onwards"

As Natsume entered the house, before closing the door he looked out to see that the youkai leader was gone from where he stood and he sighed in relief as he greeted Touko and Shigeru before heading up to his room.

'What an odd youkai'

Was all that Natsume could really say about the youkai leader, although he does have a certain charisma about him, he was still pretty quiet it was unusual considering all the youkia that he is always around were rambunctious. Opening the door to his room, he shrieked when he saw the silver youkai sitting in his room, his futon already laid out seemingly done for him. Touko asked whether anything was the matter, worried since he did scream afterall. Natsume quickly reassured her stating that he saw a large bug, the youkai raised his eyebrows at that, and was simply scared and it wasn't anything much to prevent them from coming up.

Once the situation was settled, he closed the door behind him when he entered and questioned exactly how did he get into his room.

Yoru looked at Natsume in amusement he told the human boy that his window was open which resulted in the boy groaning and seemingly cursing that large wolf bodyguard he called "sensei". Yoru looked at Natsume in interest and asked why he still kept said wolf by his side when there were other youkai, such as the lord of the town, who seemed so protective of him. Natsume chuckled at that saying that he actually had a pact of sorts with said youkai. Since, "sensei" wanted the book of friends, he could have it if he died early, however, if he managed to release all the names in the book of friends, he would be consumed by the wolf.

Natsume noticed the weirded look that the silver youkai was giving him and he chuckled, saying that indeed it was a weird pact for a youkia who wasn't even by his side. However, having sensei by his side actually saved him in certain situations, in a way that there were much less hostile youkai situations compared to before when he was with his other foster families. With the sudden drop in tone of the conversation, there was a pause between the two of them as they did not really know how to continue the conversation. Then, Natsume realised that all this time he didn't know the youkai's name. All this time it was always 'hey' and 'you', turning to the youkai who was staring at him

"What's your name? I never caught it and all your subordinates call you 'master' so i never heard it."

Yoru just stared at the human before laughing at him. Composing himself, he saw that Natsume seemed flustered and calmed himself down.

"You really remind me of someone, but my name's Yoru"

Yoru answered as he saw Rikuo in him, since Rikuo too would talk about dark topics before switching out as though nothing had happened as if he flipped a switch. Watching as Natsume seemed frozen at his reaction. Noticing how dark it has gotten, Yoru chucked Natsume's pillow at him

"Go to sleep, you humans have school tomorrow don't you?"

Natsume took the pillow to the face with an 'oof', as he removed the pillow from his face, he looked towards the youkai who had his eyes closed, breath evened out as he already fell asleep. Changing and then adjusting himself so that he was comfortable in the futon, Natsume himself slowly dozed off.

When he was sure that the human boy was asleep, Yoru's eyes opened as he made sure that the human was indeed asleep before opening the window quietly and heading outside of the room to deter any youkai from approaching the Fujiwara household.

—- ueu—-

Natsume woke up in a pool of water, rising quickly, he realised that all around him was water. He could not see anything around him as well, it was just dark. Deciding to just start walking in a direction, he wondered why Yoru would have this kind of blank dream or was it a memory. It was a new experience to say the least, since Natsume always saw the memories of the youkai around him. Soon enough, he reached he saw light source. Getting closer he could see a sakura tree, although, he saw a figure. A young man with auburn hair and glasses, he was in the same Yukata that Yoru was wearing earlier. The boy sitting under the sakura tree seemed to notice him and beckoned him over. As he reached the small plot of land in the middle of nowhere, the boy had gotten up and reached out to him pulling him up.

As Natsume had gotten up, he was surprised that he was completely dry despite trekking through water for what seemed to be the last 10 minutes, then as he realised the boy had actually helped him up, he wondered where he was. Could he be in the youkai world? Since this is definitely not his room.

As Rikuo sat Natsume down, he chuckled at how confused Natsume was. Deciding his best course of action for the time being was to introduce himself so that Natsume would be less guarded around him.

"Hello! My name is Rikuo, Nura Rikuo."

As Rikuo introduced himself, he could see the gears in Natsume's head turning as he was looked over thoughtfully.

"Could you be Yoru-san's human half?"

Rikuo nodded to Natsume's question that he was indeed the human half of the body they inhabit. Although, he informed Natsume, he was not a part of Yoru. both of them are two different entities sharing a single body, Yoru being the youkai part of him. Natsume seemed to take in the information before asking how it was possible, whether it was a trait that all hanyo's seem to have.

"No, it's kind of a special case for me. Since my youkai blood awakened when i was eight, yoru has always been there inside of me. Although, i never took note that we were actually separate entities until i was 12."

Rikuo shared with Natsume who seemed interested in the information given to him and proceeded to ask about hanyo's and whether they were all half of each and to that Rikuo debunked it again saying that while there is certainly plenty of hanyo's who were half. In his case, he was simple a quarter youkai, which is why Yoru would never be found during the day, since Rikuo would be taking his place after all. After that, Natsume had asked some questions regarding his clan, whether they knew about him and Yoru being two different entities which was a yes, about how it was to live in a youkai household and such. Then,

"How come you came to find me?"

Natsume finally brought up the question that had been plaguing him, Rikuo seemed to be anticipating the question since there was no evidence of surprise in his expression. However, he was not prepared for the answer that came after.

"We are cousins, related from my mother's side. We had come to find you since my mother wanted to see how you were doing, she was worried about you since you had the sight so she wanted to ensure that you were safe. Especially after she received the news of your parents."

Natsume, as much as he wanted to believe Rikuo, he was suspicious of the boy. Since he had never heard that his mother had a sister, no one had mentioned it and if they were really related and Rikuo's mother was his aunt, why did they never take him in? Asking that question, he received a solemn expression from Rikuo.

"We had never found out that aunt and uncle had passed till recently, we had suspected that either your other relatives had not know that my mother was part of the family tree, or they had truly erased any connection Grandmother had with them."

Natsume could actually see his family doing that, they had never liked his grandmother nor him after all with the way he was treated. Furthermore, they had no idea who his grandfather was which enhanced the fact that they may had tried to erase their side of the family line. His attention was called back to Rikuo though when he started speaking again

"I can understand if you don't believe me right now, it isn't an everyday thing when someone comes up to you and told you they were related and there's so much more that i have to tell you, but i believe that it'll have to wait till we meet outside this space. Although, i have something for you to consider."

Natsume's interest was peaked and he gestured for Rikuo to continue, and Rikuo continued saying that he wished for Natsume to visit the Nura household, his mother had been wanting to meet him and wished for him to visit soon. Natsume accepted, stating that he would try to head over as soon as he could. Before they could continue the conversation however, Yoru had dropped in, quite literally as he landed behind Rikuo.

"No wonder it was so quiet tonight. It's interesting though, no one other than us had been here before."

Yoru mused as Natsume seemed a little uncomfortable with the staring, soon he was hit over the head by none other than Rikuo. Glaring at the human side of him, Rikuo huffed and lectured at him to be a little nicer and more polite to their guest. Waving him off, he told him that he should go now since the sun was coming up, and be needed to be back in time for his school. Seeing as Rikuo was letting him off for the time being, he quickly gave Rikuo's hair a ruffle before the kid disappeared to take his place. Looking over to other human in their space, since the kid needed more of a push to get out. He warned his cousin before pushing him into the water where he watched him disappear

"Take care of yourself and be careful."

He heard Yoru's words before he was pushed back into the water and as a result, sat up quickly in panic, back in his room this time. Calming his beating heart down, he looked around and saw that Nyanko-sensei was still not back and Yoru was gone. Well, they did say that they had classes as well hearing touko call him from downstairs. He quickly got up and readied himself when he noticed that there was a piece of paper on his table.

"Sorry for the rude awakening, i'll give Yoru a good talking too for you. Also, i have a surprise for you this afternoon -Rikuo"

As Natsume read the note, he realised that what Yoru did was not on purpose and was well, thankful for it. Although, while isn't sure of what the surprise was, he had a brief idea of what Rikuo may do. Deciding to keep an eye out, he got ready and went down to meet Touko and Shigeru for breakfast.

When Natsume had gotten to school, he wondered why he wasn't approached by any youkai at all. Usually he would end up helping some of the smaller youkai with their problems, however today it seemed as though they had disappeared as he could not find a single one. Reaching the school, he met up with Tanuma and Taki and told them about what happened the day before, not mentioning about the dream scape and with that Rikuo. The two of them were surprised by what they heard from Natsume and wanted to know more, although, they were cut short when their bell rang and they had to separate.

The day went by without any problems, and when the bell had ended the three teenagers had met up again ending up at the gate where they heard people murmuring about a kid holding a maneki neko. Natsume, having a hunch as to who the kid was, with Tanuma and Taki headed over to see what was going on.

As they exited the gate and saw who it was, Both Tanuma and Taki were confused while Natsume questioned Rikuo what he was doing there.

— 0a0p—-

Rikuo greeted the three humans first before referring to Natsume

"I did say that i had a surprise."

He stated as though it was a fact and saw that Natsume had some sort of a realisation although his friends seem to be still confused at his appearance. Deciding to introduce himself to them, he saw recognition in the boys eyes as he questioned whether he was the youkai lord of that certain night to which he replied yes he was, the two of them quickly introduced themselves as well as Tanuma and Taki. Then, Rikuo while still holding Nyanko-sensei bowed and apologized for his parade's actions that night, not only to Tanuma but Natsume himself, since he certainly had caused discomfort that night. Stating that he should have been more aware that there were humans who could handle youki, Tanuma had seemed to be flustered with his apology and told him to rise his head, especially since there was a small crowd forming around them now. Raising his head, he asked if they could follow him.

That's it for now ;)

First and foremost, i have to apologize for being a week late on this chapter. Well, as you have seen in the first part of the author notes, uhh i started late. Then i forgot i was going on a holiday at the end of the month which didn't leave me time to write since i kept on reaching the hotel late at night. Also i procrastinate alot and i apologize for it. I'll do my best to keep a proper schedule of a chapter a month and thank you to everyone for your patience!

For more updates you can find me on instagram at

Leave a review, follow or favourite is always appreciated with much love 3


	3. Chapter 3

Hihi once again i'm beginning to write this in the middle of the month…. let's hope that i manage to get it out by the end of the month, however if you're reading this after march then, either i didn't make it to what i planned or you just discovered it haha. Also in this story, Rikuo is using a regular sword cos (spoilers) for those who finished nura mago know that nenekirimaru v2 actually broke after the fight w seimei so yea, Rikuo will be using a regular sword. As usual, let's get into the reviews before we begin the story!

AnimeHuntress; thank you so much for the support! I just needed to break for a little bit and i also hope that i can have a regular update schedule lol

Naniu2002: hehe its hereeee (hopefully on time)

—

The three humans had followed Rikuo to the usual bank by the river. As they seated themselves, Rikuo had let go of Nyanko-sensei as was snatched up and glomped by Taki.

"Now that it's quieter, let me introduce myself again. Nura Rikuo, third head of the Nura clan and lord of pandemonium. Also, Takashi's cousin"

Both Tanuma and Taki turned their heads to Natsume for clarification as he nodded towards them, that Rikuo was indeed saying the truth, they turned back to Rikuo who was smiling towards them patiently waiting. They asked him how come he was in Yatsuhara when Rikuo took out a wine bottle out of nowhere , which made Nyanko-sensei go wild. Explaining that he was here to see the lord of the town.

"Aren't you underage? You shouldn't be drinking."

Natsume chastised Rikuo as the quarter youkai boy laughed and replied that the adult age for the youkai world is 13 so they didn't really need to worry about it, but that didn't mean that he drank regularly, Rikuo said quickly to assure the older teens as he only drank when he was doing sakazuki with his subordinates and that when night comes, Yoru's the only one who drinks, heavily, especially at parties.

"So that means that you only change into a youkai at night?"

Rikuo nodded as an answer to Taki who was fascinated with him. The she asked him about her grandfather's circle which confused him, taking out a page out of her notebook, she begins sketching in her notebook and once she was done, showed it to him. He took the paper and observed the array before returning it to her and apologizing that he was not aware that such an array existed

"Normally, for us youkai we let ourselves be seen if we wanted to. But since we usually come out during the night there was no need to hide ourselves. I could check with Yura if you want, but it's not illegal per say among the youkai community outside."

Rikuo informed them as Taki had breathed a sigh of relief though they stiffened again when Rikuo began again.

"However, i would advise you to not use it unless you have someone like Natsume at your side or a youkai that you can see like the wolf over there because they can assure you whether the youkai involved have given their permission. I can understand while most of the youkai in Yatsuhara are docile, there are some youkai who would curse you over the most menial of things and this could be one of them."

He told them to which Taki and Natsume turned away guiltily and Rikuo sighed knowing that such an incident had already happened and decided to pry it out of them at another time.

"I think it's about time that i leave now. That wolf over there was supposed to show me where to find the lord of the town, this sake isn't going to drink itself after all."

Rikuo said as he raised the bottle of sake, Nyanko-sensei jumping up onto Rikuo to rest on his head. As Rikuo was about to get up though he was stopped by Natsume grabbing onto his kimono sleeve. He was then asked how he could be contacted, since he couldn't always rely on him appearing out of the blue afterall. Rikuo then whistled and a crow flew to him landing on his shoulder.

"Just call out to any of the crows here, they'll let the tengu children or tengu himself know that you are searching for me."

Rikuo said as he informed them chuckling at their dumbfounded faces

"I'm joking, pass me ur phone, i'll give you my number. It's much easier that way anyways. Tanuma and Taki too. However, if any of you are really in trouble just call out to the crows and we'll be there in no time. They travel much faster after all."

Once he had given them his number, he sent the crow off and got up with Nyanko-sensei still on his head and bid them farewell walking into the forest. Once they were out of sight, Madara changed back into his original form, that of a wolf, picking Rikuo up by his robe and bringing him to where Misuzu and the dog gang would be. When they had reached the clearing where the youkai were, he dropped the quarter youkai on the floor and changed back to his cat form. When Rikuo had looked up from where he had been dropped, he saw a bunch of youkai staring at him.

"Madara what's this? A snack for us? why'd you bring a human here."

The feminine youkai had said as she observed him, unaware of his youkai scent. While the others tried to make threatening faces at him to which he ignored, then there was a chuckle from the lord of the town as he told them to stop bothering him. Getting up, he kneeled to the lord of the town and brought out youkai sake. Which the others drooled over behind him.

"Good day to you Misuzu-sama. I am Nura Rikuo the third head of Nura clan, a quarter youkai."

He introduced himself as the youkia behind him froze and the bull youkai in front of him chuckled. As he told Rikuo to drop the formalities, the dog gang on the other hand did not believe Rikuo's claim stating that he was too short and the youkai leader had more charisma than the meek human in front of them. Taking the youkai sake he kept it back in his kimono sighing

"Looks like i'll just have share this with misuzu then. To think that i brought such a rare sake to share with everyone, what a shame."

He said exaggerating a sigh as he brought out a sakazuki cup fit for Misuzu and started pouring for the large youkai. As the sake was being poured, all the youkai could do was watch and stare as the clear liquid filled the sakazuki cup the aroma driving them crazy. Once the cup was filled, and Rikuo closed the lid, the dog gang all begged for at least a sip of the sake as they quickly said they were wrong and apologized, Nyanko-sensei on the side was laughing his ass off at the dog gang as he received his own cup of sake as a reward for bringing Rikuo to the clearing.

"Truly Nurarihyon's grandson."

Misuzu said as he chuckled, downing the sake given to him. Rikuo still exaggerating and questioning whether he should give it to them. In the end, Rikuo dropped the act and gave them all sake, why the bottle didn't run out of sake even after catering to a large youkai such as Misuzu you ask? Well it's simply a never ending sake bottle, an enchanted bottle to always hold sake that he took from the sake collection knowing that he was going to deal with a group of drinkers. Within minutes, the youkai were all drunk on the sake, making a fool of themselves.

"How in the world are you Reiko's descendant you don't look a thing like her at all! Not cute."

The feminin youkai, Hinoe said as she came right up to Rikuo's face observing him only to be dissapointed. Rikuo chuckled as he apologized for it. Looking around the dog's circle was in various states most of them drunk and passed out. The only sober ones were him, Nyanko and Misuzu. As he noticed that the sun was about to set, deciding that he should take his leave now, he was about to get up from his place when someone had shot out from the bushes. It was a human. The human (which seemed familiar) made eye contact with him and took out a bunch of talismans, all of which he realised to be exorcising talismans, akin to the one that Ryuuji had used on him in their first meeting.

"What are you doing to that boy?!"

He said as he held up the talismas ready to strike, Rikuo tried to diffuse the situation by saying that he wasn't entirely human. But the fact that he was forcefully transported to the exorcist side by his shikigami and the sakazuki cup in his hand certainly did not help his case. Although, now that he was in close range with the exorcist he knew exactly who he was.

"Shuuichi Natori-san, it would be helpful if you could get your shikigami to release me."

He told the exorcist as Natori seemed to be surprised by his calmness, but since he wasn't doing anything. He decided to take things into his hands as he took out his sword and slashed down at the offending shikigami who released him immediately. Once he was released, the shikigami all stood around their master to protect him, however, Rikuo wasn't interested in fighting and sheathed his sword and holding it at his side as a sign of peace.

"Now where was i, Natori-san if you could please put down those scary talismans. I assure you that i am here on my own will. What do you need from this group of youkai?"

Rikuo asked as Natori seemed to finally observe the situation and kept his talismans and his shikigami disappeared,

"Before i tell you anything, who are you?"

The exorcist asked as Rikuo obliged and introduced himself. Seeing as the exorcist seemed to trust him a little especially since he introduced himself as Natsume's cousin, he asked what happened to get a reply that Natsume got kidnapped by an exorcist by the name of Madara. Rikuo's mood dropped immensely and the slightly drunk youkai's sobered up immediately. Misuzu had risen only to be stopped by Rikuo who gave a loud whistle, by then the crows in the area had gotten loud and ominous. Three tengu's then appeared in front of Rikuo, asking for his orders as the knelt to him

"Tosakamaru, go back to the main house and rally everyone, we're going hunting. Sasami, to Tanuma's place to get an excuse for Natsume's absence tonight. Kuroumaru, dig up every possible information about the Matoba family."

Once he gave them their orders, all but kuroumaru left.

"What about our alliance with the Keikain?"

Rikuo waved him off, telling the tengu that he would call Yura himself to explain what happened and with that, Kuroumaru too had left. Looking over to Natori, the man couldn't believe what he had seen. His expression painfully obvious to what he is thinking.

"Yura's my friend, although she doesn't seem to like my youkai form."

Rikuo explained his connection to the keikain clan and left no room for Natori to question him further as he had jumped onto Madara (who had transformed back into his actual form) and nodded for Natori to get up as well. Before they had left though, to get to the Matoba mansion, Rikuo's attention was caught by Misuzu who asked him to bring Natsume back safely. Assuring the youkai that he would, and promised to bring more alcohol the next time he visits, hopefully during the night as Yoru prefer these kind of events compared to him. With that they had left the clearing, the two occupants on the back of the wolf clinging on.

While on the way, Natori had asked Rikuo that if, as Natsume's cousin he was a quarter youkai, was Natsume a partial youkai as well. To which Rikuo denied, since the youkai traits came directly from the Nura clan and Natsume's line had consisted of humans only for all he knew, but from what he could smell of Natsume, not a single trace of youkai was in his blood.

—uwu /

When they had reached the Matoba estate, in the forests close to the entrance of the estate the two humans dropped down from the wolf's back as Madara transformed into Reiko's form. Rikuo who had never seen his grandmother before, observed the form that Madara took as he placed the talisman over his eyes disguising himself as a shikigami, while as a human currently, Rikuo had no need to disguise himself since, being in a kimono helped him in a way that people would think that he's a new exorcist.

Madara noticed that Rikuo's eyes was roaming on his form and once he tied the band securely, he asked what was the quarter youkai's deal. Rikuo fumbled over himself at being caught staring, but to be fair he wasn't hiding it.

" i was just thinking that Takashi really looks like grandmother."

Rikuo had said as Madara huffed, turning on his heels to head into the estate, Rikuo walking alongside him as they separated from Natori inside since he was a recognisable figure being an actor and a prominent exorcist as well. So while Natori was looking for Natsume around the exorcists and Matoba who had not made an appearance yet, Madara and Rikuo would be snooping around to see whether Rikuo would have been kept anywhere.

"Is it alright for you to suppress your youkai side even though it's night."

Madara had asked Rikuo as they were going through the different rooms, Rikuo barely holding himself back from releasing the innocent youkai who were sealed in the bottles to be used as a tool. Shaking his head, Rikuo explained that it was fine, as long as Yoru got to fight later on. Madara hummed in response as he asked Rikuo of his other entity.

"Yoru isn't possessing me, like i said i'm a genuine quarter youkai. For all i know i'm the only hanyo to be like this, although, i suspect this is because i've been keeping my youkai side hidden for most of my childhood to which let Yoru came into existence."

As Madara hummed in acknowledgement again, the two of them were stopped in their tracks when they heard screams coming from down the hall, the two of them ran, Madara turning back into a wolf for convenience before throwing Rikuo onto his back and running to the source of the commotion. Bursting through the doors only to find Natsume being crushed by an obviously malicious youkai. At their appearance many of the exorcists around raised their talismans or ordered their shikigami to attack the two new intruders. Leaping off of Madara, he had cut down all of the talismans with his sword while Madara had got rid of the shikigami. Observing his surroundings, he knew that neither Natori nor his shikigamis could get to Natsume in time. So, using Madara's form as a leverage, he leapt towards the youkai, sword raised as his human form melted away, Yoru taking place as the youkai was cut down. Grabbing Natsume as he fell, Yoru quickly retreated as the wounded youkai fell.

Natsume was trying to regain his breath, coughing as Yoru soothed him. Before Yoru could say anything though, clapping could be heard. Yoru tightened his hold on the sword as he put Natsume behind him, holding his sword out in front of him, he looked to the source if the sound to see a young man around the same age as Natori, with an eyepatch over his right eye.

"Well done Natsume-kun. Looks like you got another youkai to favour you again, a special one at that."

Natsume tried to get up to get Yoru out of Matoba's sight, but failed as Yoru didn't allow him to move, and his body still hurt from nearly being crushed by the Youkai that now lay dead. Natori and Madara had also got to them as well, fussing over Natsume as Madara told Yoru to be careful of that man, the current head of the Matoba clan, Matoba Seiji. Yoru's eyes narrowed at the new information as he too saw what happened to the youkai in the room through Rikuo's eyes and was trying his best to keep it in so it wouldn't be difficult for Rikuo to maintain his human form in a place full of 'fear', much like Toono.

"How cruel of you to speak if me like that youkai. However, even though i'm grateful to the young master for getting rid of that defect for me. I can't let you leave alive, since you're youkai."

With that, Matoba ordered the shiki to get rid of them. While Natori had stayed to care for Natsume, Both Madara and Yoru focused on getting rid of the shiki and shikigami around them, since the other exorcists had also decided to send their shikigami in to get rid of the youkai. It was troubling for Yoru since when he cut down one shiki, another comes out and attacks, it was going on for awhile, it was tedious since it had gone on for a long time and his blade was dulling. Throwing the dulled sword away, hitting a shiki in the meantime, he quickly took out the spare he carried on him and cut down the the line of shiki directly in front of him. However, he wasn't aware of the shikigami that had gotten past Madara. Looking back, he saw the shikigami about to strike him, Natsume calling out to him to move when the shikigami and all offending parties were restrained including the exorcists.

"I suggest that you keep your hands off my master."

A voice said as all the shikigami and shiki were destroyed, the exorcists unable to call onto more since they were still restrained. However, looking to where the source of the sound is, it all led to an entourage of youkai surrounding the group in the center. A haori being placed on his shoulders by a yuki-onna. Thanking Tsurara as he adjusted the haori, he signalled for kubinashi to release everyone. As the exorcists felt the strings leave them, they all immediately raised their talismans ready to attack the hyakki yakkou around them, the youkai around Yoru also being on the defensive as they waited for their masters permission to attack. However, Yoru was not paying attention to them, solely focused on Matoba.

"Who are you?"

"Nura Rikuo, third head of the nura clan, ¼ youkai."

—-—

Another cliff. (Runs and hide) well this chapter is a little shorter than the rest and thank god i actually managed to finish this in time. Well, i hope that yall enjoyed, and till next time!

Reviews, follows and favourites are much loved.

Also i have no idea what happened last chapter but my handle was missing so once again

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